21 Day Fix

I'm writing this for two reasons:

1. To hold myself accountable. If I keep talking about it, then I'll keep doing it.

2. I know a few friends that are wondering about this program and possibly jumping on board and I figured I give a one week recap so they have a better idea of what they would be signing up for.

First thing, first. Why the 21 Day Fix? I wasn't and still am not looking for a quick fix, but the idea of this program interested me. Last summer I was doing Bar Method, which I loved but honestly, I don't have the time. It's at a studio, I was only able to do it over lunch breaks--if I wasn't traveling & that only allowed me to get 2-3 times in a week. As much as I loved it, that lunch hour was often used for errands & once I missed one, I missed another and so on. I stopped going in August. Over the holidays, I realized how much I really needed to do something, I felt so much better when I was working out. It was time.

A friend from high school is a Beachbody coach and is pretty darn successful at it. Andy not only has his own personal story but is helping others achieve their goals as well. He had been posting more and more information on the 21 day fix challenge and I finally just reached out and asked a lot of questions. Next thing I knew, I was signing up. I was excited to start something new & it was for 21 days, I could do 21 days even if I didn't like it. If I did, I could repeat each month or just keep rolling with it. A few days after signing up, my package arrived in the mail.

The 21 Day Fix is a workout + healthy eating + portion control program. These very colorful food containers arrived right alongside the workout DVDs--and let me just say, I about died when I saw their size, I thought NO WAY could I fill up on something that would fit in these little things. They were so much smaller than I thought they would be...

The first thing that I learned about this 21 Day Fix plan was that if you want to be successful, you have to plan & prep.

I received my shipment on a Wednesday, I didn't start the program until the following Monday for that reason alone--I needed to read the booklets and plan my meals. Pinterest was a huge help, if you search 21 Day Fix, you will come up with loads of ideas when it comes to food planning. Here is the gist:

If the food fits in the container you can eat it. With that being said, it needs to follow the following guidelines:

Green Container = Veggies
Purple Container = Fruit
Red Container = Protein
Yellow Container = Grains/Carbs
Blue Container = Healthy Fats
Orange Container = dressings, some nuts

The first thing you have to do is find out your caloric intake and by doing so, you determine how many of each colored container you can have each day. For me, I get 3 greens, 2 purples, 4 reds, 2 yellows, 1 blue and 1 orange a day.

The eating plan book has a list of foods you can choose from for each container. The choices are plentiful and my head was actually spinning so I chose to simplify it for myself to hopefully increase my chances of success.

I chose 3-4 items from each section and Justin headed to the store to get it all---he does 99% of the grocery shopping so what would take me an hour or more only takes him 15 minutes. I also picked up some colored ziplock bags & snack size bags from Target---another Pinterest suggestion. After Justing got home I got to work on prepping the food. I cut, washed and portioned out veggies, fruit, chicken, eggs & salad. I placed my veggies in a green ziplock since they are green, my chicken and eggs in red since they're protein and that goes with red. I start the week off with it looking a little like this…

Each night before bed I take a moment to plan out the next days meals and pack my lunch for work, which I have never been one to take my lunch to work--can you say Chipotle or Jalapenos? I plan it all out in my daily calendar that I carry pretty much everywhere with me & here's a little glimpse at week 2…

Don't get me wrong, I was a little worried about how I was going to figure it out but with some help from my hubby we came up with some great meals that not only met the criteria but were super yummy too.

Grilled Chicken Salad & a side of grapes.

Quinoa Chicken Tacos---we had never even tried quinoa but had heard wonderful things and thanks again to Pinterest this recipe was AMAZING! I could seriously eat this every night!

Now, the food is just half of the program, the other half is getting your butt in gear and finding/making the time to work out.

I figured I would have the best chance of making it through a workout if I did it first thing in the morning. Before the boys woke up. I also read a tip that if you slept in your workout clothes that you were already halfway through the battle. I could use any help I could get, so I did. & then 6 am rolled around and it just wasn't happening--it had been a rough night for Logan.

Even though the morning workout didn't go as planned I still had time to fit it in when I got home & the boys were begging me to do it while they were awake, so I gave it a go. & you know what, they were the best cheerleaders EVER. They kept repeating all the encouraging words they heard on the DVD and there were a couple times that I wanted to stop but I couldn't, not with them there. So I found the perfect time for my workouts, after dinner and before their bedtime. They have the warmup down & it is oh so cute!

So what do these workouts look like, they are about 30 minutes long & each day of the week is something different, which I love. I have done the 30 day shred before and although it was good, I got bored quickly. It was so nice to change things up every day. We started with cardio on day one and flew through an upper and lower fix, a pilates fix, another cardio session, my favorite--the dirty thirty & then we ended up with a day of yoga. The workouts were challenging and I was totally sore most of the week but no pain, no gain.

Now, don't get me wrong, I miss my junk food--I went to two movies in the past four days and had not one single kernel of popcorn or piece of candy. I went to Jalapenos, my favorite mexican restaurant and didn't have a single chip or cheese dip or cheese dip on my rice. I thought it was going to be so incredibly hard but it wasn't, it hasn't---there's been a mind shift & I have a goal to hit and I am going to hit it.

Bonus, my kids are learning about working out and we are all eating a little healthier. So far so good, 13 days left, that's almost the halfway mark.

I am sure I have missed a few things about the program that are VERY important so if you have questions, let me know or better yet, I can give you Andy's information & he can get you squared away.